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Feed of posts on WordPress.com tagged "csq"Tue, 20 Mar 2018 02:21:04 +0000http://en.wordpress.com/tags/enhttps://globalnews.ca/go/politics/quebec-government-accused-of-trying-to-dismantle-daycare-system-by-employees/
Sat, 29 Apr 2017 17:57:38 +0000annabelleolivierglobalhttps://globalnews.ca/go/politics/quebec-government-accused-of-trying-to-dismantle-daycare-system-by-employees/Quebec’s public daycare workers and their supporters took to the streets of Montreal Saturday to put pressure on the provincial government during ongoing negotiations for a new agreement.

The Quebec Federation of Early Childhood Workers (FIPEQ) — a union representing 11,700 childcare providers and 2,400 educators — is accusing the government of trying to dismantle the province’s network of public daycares.

“The government is trying to take advantage of current negotiations to finish what it started with the budget cuts of recent years,” FIPEQ president Valérie Grenon said in a written statement.

For Sonia Ethier, with the Centrale des Syndicats du Québec (CSQ) an umbrella organization representing several unions, the government is showing a lack of respect towards public daycare workers.

“Public daycare workers have worked very hard to ensure that the impact of the hundreds of millions in budget cuts not be felt too greatly by the children in their care,” Ethier said, explaining in a written statement that despite these efforts, the government was expecting them to accept unfair working conditions.

The unions are calling on the provincial Liberal government to improve services for children with special needs and to introduce a measure that would allow for a progressive return to work following a disability.

According to the Confederation of National Trade Unions (CSN) the network of public daycares in the province provides services to around 400,000 children.

Rallies were also held in three other cities across the province, including Quebec City, Sherbrooke and Rouyn-Noranda.

–With files from the Canadian Press

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Mon, 23 Jan 2017 15:36:28 +0000aolsinskihttps://amtlo.wordpress.com/go/canada/csq-process/Today we passed all signed forms and documents in originals to our lawyer for application.

Interesting, what date will we get the answer from ministry?

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Thu, 15 Dec 2016 17:14:05 +0000aolsinskihttps://amtlo.wordpress.com/go/canada/temporary-workers-staying-in-quebec-permanently/From official site of the Government of Québec : link

“People are going to have more money are going to spend more, so basically this money’s going to come back into the local economy,” said Proulx.

Quebec’s finance minister has publicly stated that the province’s minimum wage is appropriate, while Quebec premier, Phillippe Couillard seemed more open, saying he would consider holding a debate on the subject.

Protesters say politicians need to listen up.

“If politicians are there to answer to the population needs – this is one important population need,” said Daigneault.

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Sun, 01 May 2016 20:18:36 +0000Felicia Parrillohttps://globalnews.ca/go/canada/may-day-marchers-ask-for-15hour-minimum-wage/MONTREAL – The first of May is marked as International’s Workers’ Day – a time to celebrate workers and their rights.

In honour of the special day, thousands of Quebecers took to the streets of Montreal’s Plateau-Mont-Royal borough to send a message to the Quebec government.

“Listen to us,” said Danielle Legault, from the Quebec Service Employee’s Union.

“We love our province, we want it to work properly, we want decent wages for everybody. Work is important, that’s what makes our economy roll. So if we want to make sure it keeps going, we have to increase wages and people need to have dignity in the work they do.”

As of May 1, the minimum wage is going from $10.55 up to $10.75 an hour.

However, many union groups insist the 20 cent increase is just not enough.

Union leaders say too many working Quebecers have trouble paying their bills.

“It’s an important fight,” Berlin said. “It’s lifting people out of poverty, it’s taking people off welfare rolls and giving people a decent standard of living.”

Some demonstrators also explain they’re still fighting for better working conditions.

“Even if the bargaining part of the public sector are ending,” said Daniel Lafrenière from Centrale des syndicats du Québec (CSQ). “We still have to fight for conditions.”

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Thu, 25 Feb 2016 20:57:13 +0000Caroline Plante, Montreal Gazettehttps://montrealgazette.com/go/news/quebec/school-board-hearings-resume-48-hours-after-nomination-of-new-minister/QUEBEC — Public hearings into the government’s proposed school board reform resumed on Thursday 48 hours after the nomination of the new education minister, and while MNAs were packing up for March Break.

“It’s too fast,” Louise Chabot, president of the Centrale des syndicats du Québec, said before presenting her brief on Thursday. The CSQ represents 130,000 school staff in the province.

“Taking the time to sit down together beforehand and asking ‘What is the reality of the education system? Where are the problems and how do we tackle them’ would have been much more of a winning approach.”

Education Minister Sébastien Proulx, named Monday evening to replace the ailing Pierre Moreau, is “super-fast” if he had time to read the bill and consult with partners, Chabot said.

The CSQ told the minister it disagrees with Bill 86 — an Act to modify the organization and governance of school boards to give schools a greater say in decision-making and ensure parents’ presence within each school board’s decision-making body.

The title is misleading, said Josée Scalabrini from the Fédération des syndicats de l’enseignement (FSE-CSQ). “Teachers will lose power,” she said, “because the school council will be the one adopting pedagogical projects.”

If passed, Bill 86 will replace each school board’s council of commissioners, which oversees board operations, with a school council made up of parents, school staff and community members with voting rights.

An outing at the museum, said Scalabrini, could be blocked by the school council without any consultation with the rest of the teachers, as is currently the norm.

“Is Bill 86 at the top of your priority list,” Parti Québécois MNA Alexandre Cloutier asked the CSQ during the hearings.

About 250 specialized staff such as school psychologists and speech therapists were cut this year, answered Johanne Pomerleau from the FPPE-CSQ. ”It was a catastrophe,” she said, adding the priority for CSQ members is not for the government to overhaul structures, but that it reinvest in education to increase student success.

Proulx under fire

Earlier in the day, Cloutier told reporters he fully expects Proulx to defend public schools. The new education minister revealed in a radio interview that his two children attend a private school in Quebec City, and that he has no intention of pulling them out. “I’m very comfortable with our decision,” he said on Thursday. “You know, dad is the one in politics, not the children. They are in a place that we have chosen, for reasons which frankly do not concern anyone except my partner and I.”

“Freedom of choice exists in Quebec,” he said.

This week also saw Proulx defending past declarations from when he was house leader of the now-defunct Action démocratique du Québec.

In 2008, he said in the house: “We are not in favour of changing the school board model, we are in favour of its abolition.”

“He has taken positions in the past, it’s up to him now to show that he’ll support public education,” said Chabot. “At the time of the ADQ we had to live with the positions of the ADQ and we widely challenged them.”

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Tue, 15 Dec 2015 16:54:20 +0000Felicia Parrillohttps://globalnews.ca/go/politics/quebec-teachers-union-reaches-agreement-in-principle/MONTREAL – An important agreement in principle has been reached between the Quebec government and a public sector union.

The Centrale des syndicats du Quebec (CSQ), which represents 73,000 elementary and high school teachers in the province have announced they have come to an agreement on working conditions, but not on salaries.

They have been holding rotating strike days throughout the fall as a way to protest during negotiations.

The unions said while the provincial government backed down on a lot of its demands, they still make compromises.

“We had a lot of demands at the beginning, what we were able to do was go get a few of them and back them down on everything,” said Goldfinch.

“Yes, gains for us, but not gains everywhere.”

The agreement still has to be approved in a vote by teachers.

“Teachers can hold their heads up high and be proud of this collective agreement, this agreement in principle that we’re putting forward to them,” said Goldfinch.

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Sun, 04 Oct 2015 11:03:30 +0000Aaron Derfel, Montreal Gazettehttps://montrealgazette.com/go/news/local-news/tens-of-thousands-of-public-sector-workers-demonstrate-against-austerity-wage-freezes/At St. Jude Elementary School in Deux-Montagnes where she works as a Grade 4 teacher, Chantal Kers despairs of growing class sizes, and the effect on students with special needs.

“I feel so discouraged,” Kers said Saturday at the foot of Mount-Royal, where tens of thousands of public-sector workers gathered in a common front demonstration.

“Our students’ needs are already not being met, and and now the government wants to cut services and continue to increase the class sizes,” Kers said, alluding to what she described as Premier Philippe Couillard’s austerity agenda.

“I believe the public needs to get more involved,” she added. “It’s not just up to the employees.”

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Members of the common front sought to draw attention not only to the government’s austerity measures, but to protest against Treasury Board president Martin Coiteaux’s proposed public-sector wage freeze for the next two years, followed by annual one-per-cent raises until 2019.

The common front — comprising five workers’ federations — is seeking salary hikes of 13.5 per cent over three years. Two of the federations — the Centrale des syndicats du Québec (CSQ) and the Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN) — already have strike mandates.

Strolling with their children and blowing noisemakers in the warm autumn sunshine, the workers marched down Parc Ave. to Sherbrooke St., before converging on McGill College Ave. for a concert and speeches by union leaders. Many of the workers were bused in from across Quebec.

I’m not going to say that this will be the last peaceful demonstration, but we’re moving towards more muscular tactics. — Daniel Boyer, president of the Fédération des travailleurs du Québec

Daniel Boyer, president of the Fédération des travailleurs du Québec (FTQ) that is part of the common front, warned of more “muscular” pressure tactics to come during Saturday’s demonstration.

“I’m not going to say that this will be the last peaceful demonstration, but we’re moving towards more muscular tactics,” Boyer told reporters, without elaborating on the nature of those tactics.

The FTQ has accused the Couillard government of attempting to “dismantle” the province’s social programs and institutions.

Françoise David, MNA for Gouin riding and co-leader of Québec solidaire, joined the march, urging Coiteaux to “negotiate in good faith” and to “stop his public-relations campaign to discredit the unions.”

Many of the marchers waved flags or carried signs with slogans, one of which contained the following couplet in French: “Les plus pauvres à l’enfer pour l’équilibre budgétaire” (the poorest to hell for a balanced budget).

Martin Savard, an educator at the Centre de réadaptation en dépendance de Montréal, said in an interview workers like himself are sick and tired of all the job cuts the Couillard government has imposed.

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“They’re abolishing all kinds of positions — from administration to clinical personnel,” Savard said. “As a result, whenever someone is absent, we become overloaded.”

Alexandre Fecteau, vice-president of the municipal workers’ union in St-Adèle, accused the government of “taking money out of the pockets” of workers after signing a fiscal pact with municipalities on Sept. 29.

The pact would lead to decreases in transfers of funding to municipalities from 2016 to 2019 in exchange for a greater share of a possible increase in the provincial sales tax.

The research analyzesindetailthe situationon the environmental issuesof the coke plant. Ambient air quality standard and limit value are indicated and also the Best Available Techniques (BAT) for Environmental Control. The oven chamber pressure regulation is the new technology used for emission reduction.

Photo: Michaël Monnier, Le Devoir, The CSQ denounces how little information has been transmitted by ministers regarding the coming reforms, among them those that will affect healthcare.

The Centrale des syndicats du Québec (CSQ) intends to continue putting pressure during the winter of 2015 in order to slow down the reforms and bill projects of the liberal government in their current forms. Reviving an expression that was associated with the years 1945-1960, the president of the CSQ, Louise Chabot, declared on Friday that Québec is under thread of being resubmerged in a “great darkness”.

Ms. Chabot warns that “the year risks becoming a theatre of important social confrontations if the government does not quickly pull itself together to re-establish a real dialogue with its population and its employees.” She admits to having a challenge of “information and mobilisation” for the next year.

The president denounces especially the governmental measures being proposed in the education, health and childcare sectors, as well as the reductions in financing for cegeps and universities, the abolition of regional health agencies and the modulation, according to family revenue, of fees for subsidized daycares.

These reforms “profoundly attack” the social model adopted in Québec since the Quiet Revolution, she reckons. “In Quebec we have equipped ourselves with a range of services in the name of the common good. If these reforms in education and healthcare are adopted, it will be step back by 10, 15, 20 years,” Ms. Chabot deplored.

The change in daycare fees will also crumble the “Québec model”, according to her. “It is a shame because daycare services are a social project that we should be proud of. It is a service that should be accessible to all.”

Difficult dialogue

Ms. Chabot affirms that her central union is having “a lot of difficulty” meeting the Minister responsible for Government Administration and Ongoing Program Review, Martin Coiteux. As for the Minister of Education, Yves Bolduc, she finds him “very available” but “does not feel heard”. “We don’t have concrete propositions. They leave us in uncertainty.”

The president affirms having received little information on the proposed reforms and bill projects before being deposited. “Minister Barrette never wanted to give me any details before depositing his proposed bill. The same goes for the Minister of Education. We know very little about what will be deposited [in the spring]. Is it the concern of being influenced [by those who would be consulted]?” she asks.

Reaction to the worries of the CSQ in the realm of education, the spokesperson for the Minister of Education, Yasmine Adbelfadel, indicates that he “would like to meet with all the involved parties before writing and depositing the bill project in the spring of 2015.” It is not yet the hour of compromise, but rather for discussion, she added.

The spokesperson for the Minister of Health, Joanne Beauvais, assures that the Minister “has met various actors” from that sector to gather diverse information before putting into place his bill project. These dialogues where nevertheless limited due to parliamentary regulations that do not allow one to reveal all the details of a bill project before it is deposited.

“Several union leaders” confirmed to Minister Barrette that they feared “changes in affiliation” that could be engendered by the “amalgamation of institutions” that is being done by the proposed Bill 10, Ms. Beauvais explained.

The cabinet of the Finance Minister did not return Le Devoir’s calls.

The CSQ numbers more than 200 000 members, of whom almost 130 000 work in the education sector. The CSQ also has a presence in domains such as health, childcare, social services and culture.

***

Translated from the original French by Language and Dissent, a collectively-run blog supporting the anti-austerity struggle in Quebec. These are amateur translations written by volunteers; we have done our best to translate these pieces fairly and coherently, but the final texts may have their flaws. If you find any important errors in any of these texts, we would be very grateful if you would share them with us via email (languageanddissent [at] gmail [dot] com). Please read and distribute these texts in the spirit in which they were intended; that of solidarity and the sharing of information.

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Mon, 20 Oct 2014 19:08:07 +0000Aalia Adamhttps://globalnews.ca/go/news/quebec-home-daycare-works-go-on-one-day-strike/MONTREAL – Nearly 14,000 home daycares were closed on Monday, as hundreds of workers took to the streets of downtown Montreal.

It was all part of of their province-wide one-day strike, which forced the parents of more than 90,000 children to find alternative arrangements for the day.

In October 2011 I received a letter confirming the registration of my file. This is a sad part – despite my expectations on the process timeline (interview invitation usually arrives 8-10 months after the file registration), my invitation came only (!) in March 2013 or 17 months later. To be honest, by that time I lost most of my hope to ever get any communication from Canadian government, and was thinking about looking for other options on immigration. Of course, I was beyond happy when I received that e-mail. They told me my interview was scheduled for June, 6th 2013.

THE INTERVIEW

I spent whole week prior to the interview to prepare. From what I read on the immigration forums and the official website, immigration officer is meeting you to check the following:

all the original documents sent with the initial application & filled application form again

language proficiency – English and French

any work experience that wasn’t documented, in case you were working while waiting for the interview and didn’t send them your last work certificate(s)

your knowledge of Quebec – values, culture, laws, climate etc

your adaptability – knowledge of market situation on real estate prices, best areas to settle first after your arrival, resources you can use to look for a job

make sure you’re planning to settle in Quebec

Expectation vs. Reality

By the time of my interview I read all I could about Canada and Quebec in particular. My biggest fear was to make a mistake in Prime Minister’s last name :) But the officer never asked me such questions.

He didn’t ask me to recite Quebec common-values one by one in the right order or name all Canadian Provinces in order from the most populous to the least ones

(But believe me I was prepared to do so :))

In the interview room was officer and translator waiting for me. They followed the protocol very carefully, and even though from the first moment I introduced myself I said that I don’t require a translation and speak English and French fluently, he read a short instruction paper to me covering the interview process and topics we will talk about during the next hour and added that at any time of the interview I have a right to ask the translator for help. During the interview the Ukrainian lady-translator went through my documents as well as the officer to check the authenticity.

Along with all my original papers, I brought print-outs of various job offers (10-15) and apartments available for rent (8-10). And while the apartment search was done only in Montreal, because it was my primary choice, I was advised to provide job offers from different cities in Quebec, including not-so-popular Northern cities that have higher pay rate and lots of jobs available. I didn’t contact the employers, just found offers that suited my education and experience and printed it. I added a couple of offers that had the most simple qualifications required and lower salary to say that if I can’t find a suitable employment right away I’m willing to start from the bottom again since I’m moving to a new society and fully understand all challenges. It shows the higher level of your adaptability, because at some point during the interview he will ask you “What will you do if you can’t find a job in the city of your first choice?” and you need to be prepared to answer it without hesitation.

To find job offers for the interview check the official immigration websites (Federal and Quebec) first and find websites they promote for job search. I don’t know whether they don’t accept offers from other websites, but as usual being prepared and knowing what information they find credible will certainly give you extra points

The officer asked questions such as:

where did you learn languages? why did your parents decide for you to start language school at early age?

are you planning to continue working in the same industry? did you research the job market for this industry?

why did you choose to immigrate to Canada?

why do you want to leave from your country?

are you planning to settle in Quebec?

did you sign the Contract respecting financial independency and do you fully understand its meaning and the amount of money you will need to possess when entering to Canada to be able to support yourself during first 3 months of your life there? etc.

It took us only 20 minutes to go through all the questions and get to the point of “We will be happy for you to become a Permanent Resident of Canada” and 5 more minutes while they printed and signed the CSQ certificate. They told me now I could move on to the next step – submit another application along with the Certificate for immigration visa to the Federal authorities in Canada.

My advice – BE CONFIDENT. If you got to this point, it means your application was carefully examined and most probably you will be granted the CSQ if you will be prepared and speak with confidence.

After me, there was an interview of a middle-age couple with a child and only the woman spoke English and little French, but (!) I had a chance to speak with them for 5-10 minutes before my interview and not only they were genuinely excited to move to Canada and only Canada, they had a step-by-step plan of how they will establish themselves in Quebec after arrival. Yes, their interview took about an hour, but they were granted a CSQ too! So it’s not always about speaking languages fluently, sometimes it’s about being half-way there and showing them you’re really motivated and encouraged to do your best.

Feel free to ask any questions or share your immigration experience!I’d be glad to share all information I know.

My father, Dr. Jerry Buss, holds the honor of being the most successful owner in the history of professional sports. Not only evidenced by his 10 NBA Championships but also from his sports marketing successes such as creating a regional sports network, establishing the first-ever NBA dance squad, “The Laker Girls,” and, of course, designing the VIP row featuring the “Jack Nicholson” seats. This is an opportunity to share the top three lessons I most value from my father while growing up in the world of professional sports.

1. TRUST YOUR INSTINCTS

My father purchased the Los Angeles Lakers, LA Kings, and the arena they played in, the Forum, in May of 1979. I was only 17 years old. His first order of business as the new Lakers’ owner was to select the #1 pick in the draft. Some suggested to him that he choose a solid four-year college standout from UCLA, David Greenwood, but my father had his eye on a sophomore who had petitioned to turn pro two years early and had dazzled in the NCAA tournament, Earvin “Magic” Johnson, the first underclassman ever to be drafted with the #1 pick.

My dad had a feeling about Magic and he trusted himself to take a gamble that paid off big and forever changed the course of Lakers’ history.

2. PERSISTENCE PAYS OFF (EVEN IF EVERYONE LAUGHS AT YOUR PLAN)

When you own an arena like the Forum, the goal is to keep it busy. Between the hockey team and the basketball team, you have about 100 or so nights per year booked. However, that means you have 250 dark nights that need to be filled.

The highlight for me of that decade was the event that no one thought we could pull off—ever. People laughed when we told them our plan: a head-to-head matchup between the biggest rivals in men’s tennis: John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors. This was unusual because in tournament tennis you cannot create the best matches. You simply must play what the draw dictates.

To ask the bitter rivals to CHOOSE to play each other head-to-head when they would prefer to avoid each other at all costs still sounds crazy, but we would not accept no for an answer. And so the stalking began.

We would show up at their matches to support them and connect with their families, always letting each think that they were our number one pick. To this day, McEnroe thinks he is my favorite and Connors would insist that he knows he is my favorite.

After a year, the pestering finally paid off and on April 21, 1984, the Carta Blanca Challenge featuring John McEnroe vs. Jimmy Connors squared off at the Forum. We sold out the building and set the all-time gross gate receipt record for the Forum, breaking the mark previously set in 1973 for the Muhammad Ali vs. Ken Norton fight.

3. THERE IS ROOM FOR HEART IN THIS BUSINESS

When we moved the Lakers from the Forum to STAPLES Center in 1999, I was named to run the business operations of the team. The new job meant I could focus how I spent my time away from work.

The Lakers were loaded with talent, Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant were the best one-two punch in the game. My father, frustrated with their three consecutive losses in the playoffs, decided to hire a new coach. He told me he was considering the six-time championship winning former Chicago Bulls’ coach, Phil Jackson.

I told him that I thought it was a mistake. I didn’t know much about Phil Jackson except that he had a philosophy about basketball and Zen that bordered on the fringes and that in my estimation, with all of his success, he would probably be very demanding. My reasoning was that Shaq and Kobe were already huge personalities, and Phil Jackson would throw it out of balance.

Thank goodness my dad didn’t listen to me.

I met Phil Jackson for the first time prior to an NBA meeting in Vancouver. I was prepared to offer my support and wish him well. However, I wasn’t prepared for his presence that in some ways bowled me over. It was his voice that captivated me.

We began dating soon after, but I made it clear to Phil that if we were to date it had to come with full disclosure, as I was not interested in keeping secrets. Secrets to me compromise an organization and leave you vulnerable to those who threaten to expose you.

My relationship with Phil opened me to yet another side of the business – managing players on the court. He has a way of breaking down barriers and making a team become a family. For example, Phil always scheduled a practice on Thanksgiving Day. I told him I thought he was being a tyrant making them work on a day that was a major holiday and that the players’ families might resent him for taking away their son, their husband, or their father. He explained that it was important for the players to realize that during the season the team was their family. They had to have their time together, too. He also pointed out to me that some of the players are here alone and may not have family to share the day with. It is these subtle messages that Phil uses to bond a team and taught me a bigger picture.

The Lakers responded quickly to their new leadership and won three championships in a row.

He coached the Lakers for 11 seasons, leading the team to seven Finals and five NBA Championships.

Get the full article here: http://www.csq.com/2014/06/jeanie-buss-tribute-father-la-lakers/

Every once in a while, I will cover events that may not connect directly to news developments in the games industry, but instead will share something closely related to an event happening that week. Whether it’s a new release, a response to an article making the rounds online or even the occasional impressions of a new trailer, it will be covered in these short bursts. This week, with the release of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 on all major home consoles, we check out what’s been going on with the character in his source material. Check out the inaugural edition of City Side Quests.

As April comes to a close, with it marks the end of one of Marvel’s tent-pole comics over the past year. Just a day after the release of the newest Spider-Man game (developed by Beenox, published by Activision ) two days before the launch of the new movie, readers bid farewell to Dan Slott’s controversial and critically acclaimed Superior Spider-Man series.

The year and two month long arc told the story of Doctor Octopus, one of Spider-Man’s arch foes, successfully (in a way involving switch minds and leaving Peter to die in his enemy’s old withering body while Doc started a new life in Peter’s body) killing Peter Parker. It “ended” the 700 issue long series “The Amazing Spider-Man” and replaced it with the bi-weekly “Superior Spider-Man,” chronicling the adventures of a Spider-Man/Peter Parker who’s mind was replaced by a maniacal, genius, productive and in someways, hence the title, “superior” madman.

What sounds like a bad science fiction plot from the 40’s was actually one of Marvel’s flagship books while it lasted. What followed was one of the most interesting stories Slott has produced in years. It was praised for it’s creative storytelling, plot twists, unpredictability and cringe inducing uncomfortable moments. As IGN stated in their in-depth analysis of the entire 31 issue arc, “when it was first announced that Peter Parker would be replaced by Otto Octavius, it won over many fans and already stands as a highlight in Slott’s Spider-Man run. It’s strong handling of Otto in the role of Spider-man was a major reason why we chose to pick Doctor Octopus as Spider-Man’s greatest villain of all time.”

At the Fulton Street Midtown Comics, writer Dan Slott held the first of two signing events in New York City (the second of which will be held at Jim Haney’s Universe at Union Square Saturday) for the last issue of Superior Spider-Man as well as the brand new relaunch of the Amazing Spider-Man (again, conveniently right in time for the movie). Dozens of fans lined up in the pouring rain for nearly three hours to sound off on their thoughts with the series’ creator and get their issues signed by the man himself.

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One of the stand out affects of the series was the way it made us feel for what was essentially a villain with radically different unrestrained code of ethics from what we were used to from Peter Parker. For some, this only made it all the more difficult when the series concluded.

“I thought it was kind of messed up” said 25-year-old government worker, Hiram Mosayed about the conclusion of Superior Spider-Man. He continued that he was not ready for certain characters to die when they did (avoiding spoilers here). “We all knew that Peter had to come back eventually, but I was in huge favor of Doc Ock staying. I gotta say he won me over.”

Midtown Comics employees even had their opinions on the series finale and subsequent relaunch. Midtown Comics store manager Ted Alexander, 39, said “I liked Amazing Spider-Man number one a little bit better than the last issue of Superior.” “It shows repercussions of what Doctor Octopus did to Peter’s life and how he has to adjust to this whole new life. At the end of Superior, it really wasn’t made clear how Peter was going to answer for all of ‘his’ actions while gone. When I originally read Superior #31 two weeks back, it seemed like Peter was just saying sorry and everybody was just sort of like, ‘okay.’ With Amazing #1 we see that there’s more to that.”

But with those who enjoyed the series, there were some who were hesitant to sing the arc praises. Many believed that the final story of the run, “Goblin Nation,” was a rushed, hobbled together mess that ended on a whimper just to get Peter back in the titular role in time for the movie.

“I thought the end of superior was a little bit rushed and could have been a little bit better,” said 15 year old Brandon Williams. “Instead of jamming it all into one issue towards the end they could have expanded the final story line into something even longer and more involving for Doctor Octopus.”

For some, the series lost them early on.

“I just thought it got repetitive and pretty boring,” said 23-year-old Lego Store employee Stephan Horrowitz, who wasn’t even standing on line in the store. Stephan says he stopped reading about six issues into the story. He stated that with he exception of some of the tech that Doc Ock made for Spider-Man, he wasn’t all that impressed with where the plot was heading. “The beginning was awesome. I liked the whole switching brains concept, but it didn’t fulfill what I would have wanted from the story. I lost interest really quick.”